David Miliband becomes Britain's foreign secretary

LONDON, June 28 (Reuters) David Miliband today became British foreign secretary the youngest man to take on the job in thirty years, as new Prime Minister Gordon Brown appointed his team.

''I am tremendously honoured,'' Miliband said, adding that modern diplomacy in his view should be ''patient as well as purposeful.'' Former Environment Secretary, Miliband, 41, was once Tony Blair's top policy adviser and had been touted as a candidate to challenge Brown in the leadership contest.

Miliband was reportedly sceptical about the decision to go to war in Iraq and, according to media reports, voiced his dismay in cabinet at Tony Blair's reluctance to call for an immediate ceasefire in last year's Lebanon war.

REUTERS SM PM1714